Today's letters: I can understand why a senior would kill herself

I can understand why a senior would kill herself

Re: Senior Kills Herself To Advocate Right To Die, Feb. 12.
As a strong, healthy octogenarian, I want to give my imprimatur to Ruth Goodman whose actions fulfill the beliefs of many elderly who live active, useful and independent lives. We are not being depressed when we say we dread the day we may be exiled to the cruel and unusual punishment of senility and dementia, where all that we have been is reduced to a pitiful shell.
I am not an atheist. My faith in God is solid and profound. I am totally assured that God is the infinite energy, love and light which is born into each of us and sustains each of us and into which we shall return when we leave this life.
I do not see how the God of love and compassion would ask us to allow life to become a horrendous burden to the elderly, their care-givers and society at large. A deceased contemporary of mine was kept alive for many years by the intervention of the medical profession, her indentured family and the largess of Canada medical insurance. As the rest of us will, she did die, but only after years of robbing her memory of the immensely clever and talented woman she was, robbing her family of years of their independence and robbing the medical insurance of millions of dollars in her health care.
I say “Bravo, Ruth Goodman!” Catherine S. Nelson, Calgary.

Assisted suicide is a real threat to me

Re: Few Doctors Willing To End Life Of A Patient, Feb. 9.
As a person with a disability who has suffered years of abuse by “family,” I was finally getting my life together. But now, with assisted suicide and euthanasia constantly in the news, I am having the most difficult time and am finding myself depressed.
Until almost losing my life, I never truly appreciated that my disability has been a blessing in disguise. Every day I am bombarded with messages that my life is unworthy, that I am a burden on the health-care system that I should be put down for the good of society. All of these comments from fellow Canadians have had a huge impact on my life.
Euthanasia and assisted suicide, where legal, is full of abuse. I am scared that it will be legalized in Canada. I am constantly told that if I had compassion, I would accept euthanasia to free up health-care dollars for those “with purpose who will actually contribute to society.”
There are many choices for those facing end-of-life issues and a euthanasia law does nothing but take mine away.
Lily Grace, Toronto.

Latrine digging, religion, gays and the NDP

Re: Foreign Aid Hypocrisy, Chris Selley, Feb. 13.
In response to the apparent outrage of GLBT groups at the federal government’s decision to fund anti-gay evangelical groups for aid work abroad: If the community of organizations currently promoting gay rights in North America wants to take offence to things like this, might they not be well-advised to sign themselves up for $544,000 worth of latrine digging in East Africa?
Let’s face it — there are pragmatic reasons as to why evangelical organizations tend to get the nod for these sorts of projects. Such groups consider these efforts a central plank of their theological mandate (and have developed the necessary infrastructure and institutional memory to carry them out). Until secular aid groups close the gap in that respect, diverting funding from religious NGOs risks opening up a dangerous vacuum of resources and practical competence in the interim.
As an openly gay-identified man, and equally no stranger to the inside of a Christian church, I personally find the group in question’s views unconscionable (and theologically lazy as well). That said, if someone wants to hate me here while simultaneously helping legitimately impoverished people abroad, so be it. I might be more than a little bemused that they don’t sense any cognitive dissonance in doing so, but it would be incredibly petty and self-serving of me to advocate holding crucial charitable resources hostage until they modify this-or-that tenet of their belief system, while it is hardly my life or community that hangs in the balance. Ironically, that sounds a little like “playing God.” Ian McLeod, Montreal.

Chris Selley forgot to mention that Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) has also partnered with Islamic Relief Canada, which sponsored the fundamentalist event, Reviving the Islamic Spirit, at which Justin Trudeau gave the keynote address back in December.
For consistency’s sake, shouldn’t NDP leader Thomas Mulcair and others outraged by CIDA’s association with the evangelical Christian aid organization Crossroads ask IRC for its views on homosexuality? Or is that irrelevant, since the folks who run that charity are not, you know, Christian? Mindy G. Alter, Toronto.

A Christian ministry provides humanitarian aid without forced conversion in exchange, and this is un-Canadian according to NDP leader Thomas Mulcair. And yet, the NDP view of what it means to be a Canadian is fine with sex-selection abortion? Explain, sir. Johanne Brownrigg, Ottawa.

I may not agree with Chris Selley that “all religions are daft,” but I do concur that both the federal government and the Ontario government are blatantly biased in favour of certain religious persuasions. In Ontario, while Catholic education is totally funded including religious instruction, Protestant, Jewish, and Muslim schools are not. If our new Premier and her Education Minister wish to actually implement policies of equality, they could start by recognizing a 21st-century Ontario that is radically different than the Upper Canada of the British North America Act. Seymour Epstein, Toronto.

What’s up with Ron Paul?

Re: The Libertarians’ Last Stand, Brian Doherty, Feb. 12.
One way to lose those Ron Paul disciples is to lose your principles by going after some of those disciples in court. Apparently Ron Paul would now like control of a couple websites bearing his name that have operated for several years. Understandable but rather than embrace the free market and negotiate a fair price (the owners want a relatively paltry and more than reasonable $250,000 for their time, work and investment), Mr. Paul has decided to file a complaint against the owners. Not only that but he filed the complaint with the World Intellectual Property Organization which operates under the auspices of a much reviled target of Mr. Paul, the United Nations.
There you go. Consistency of Ron Paul’s libertarian philosophy in action. Bruce Korol, Calgary.

Life in Hong Kong

Re: Calling A Cage Home, Feb. 9.
Things have not changed since I left Hong Kong more than 50 years ago. People then were living in squatter huts up in the hilly area near Kowloon Tong, a very upper class residential area. These huts were built of cardboard, corrugated sheet metal or whatever they could find. No water, no sanitary systems. The well was at the bottom of the hill, where the residents would go and get water, to cook, drink or wash. They used the walkway between living space for sanitation. People cooked in their little shacks which caught fire every now and then.
I belonged to an organization that tried to help improve these living conditions. The British government would build tenement housing and apartment blocks, to try and get the people into better and safer living condition. The people would get the unit, move in, then move back to the hill and rent their apartment.
The “housing crisis” is not new, and with the influx of Chinese going into Hong Kong/Kowloon from mainland China, I doubt it will improve anytime soon. Art Maher, Toronto.

Dining on horse

Re: Culinary Crisis, Feb. 9.
Oh give me a break. This article starts off by quoting “No horse meat please, we’re British” from The Guardian. This is totally false. I was born in 1948 and my mother ate horse meat and whale blubber during the war years and I clearly remember the horse meat butcher behind our house in Chelsea as a small child.
Moving up to today and the emotional aspect of eating our equine friends, I attend the Royal Winter Agricultural Fair every year in Toronto, where youngsters carefully groom, and tend their bovine friends, in the full knowledge that the winner of the rosette will be sold to highest bidder for steaks and hamburg. The Chinese eat cats and dogs, South Americans eat oversized guinea pigs and no doubt somewhere “rat a la tail” is enjoyed medium rare.
I owned a lovely horse once upon a time. At her death, had I been told she would be sold for meat, I would have gladly agreed to that and eaten of her gift rather than knowing she was to be ground up for dog food.
Anthropomorphism is a ridiculous excuse for human behaviour that, in reality, is our saviour. If we take the attitude of “we can’t eat that because we love it,” we might all die of starvation. I love watercress but it will not sustain me. Nicholas Brooks, Toronto.

I am afraid the taboo on eating horseflesh in Britain is not due to Anna Sewell’s Black Beauty and other sentimental stories of horses, but goes back much further into the past and was once to be found among other people. Epona the Great Horse Mother was worshipped in Scandinavia too (probably under a different name), but once a year the taboo was lifted and there was a grand horse feast at which the sacred animal was consumed. As a young person and profound horse lover, I solemnly ate a horse steak on my first visit to France — I have never touched it since.. Jeannie L’Esperance, Ottawa.

Farm trade reality

Re: Got Trade, editorial, Feb. 7.
This editorial reaches simplistic but inaccurate conclusions about supply management. The first error is that no reference whatsoever is made to the need for a reliable, safe domestic food production policy. Will Canadians have clean, safe and healthy food if that food is shipped, sometimes for weeks, from outside our borders?
I also don’t believe Canadian food is more expensive; any snowbird can attest that a cartful of groceries bought at a Wynns in Florida will be no different at the cash register than that at a Metro, Sobeys or Loblaws.
However the major error is to overlook the fact that the EU and the United States are rife with support programs for their producers; it is referred to as “farming the mailbox.” The EU producer reaps huge subsidies per hectare, so much so that frequently the price paid for the actual product produced pales alongside the subsidy.
Another fact to consider is that production costs are higher in Canada than many other areas. For example, New Zealanders keep their cows on pasture 12 months of the year. They need no barns or hay and grain for winter feed. And while their production costs are cheaper, curiously, a litre of milk there costs the same as ours. Martin C. Pick, Cavan, Ont.

If Canada were to shut down its supply management systems for dairy, sugar and eggs, these industries would thrive as these products found new international markets.
Producers here would increase in business or in number, providing much-needed, high-paying jobs in rural Canada.
The supply management boards are like the old Wheat Board: complacent status quo organizations whose vision of the future is continuing with the past. Charles Mac Leod, Red Deer, Alta.

Damn taxes

Re: A Sales Tax To End All Taxes, editorial, Feb. 12.
This editorial warns Albertans to be wary of new taxes with vague promises of future cuts. Having survived the HST debacle in B.C., I would caution everyone to be wary of anything that comes out of a politician’s mouth when the lips are moving.
Nanoseconds after the 2009 BC election, the HST went from “not being contemplated” to “vital necessity.”
Then we were assured that the tax was “revenue neutral.” It wouldn’t cost the taxpayer a dime. The HST was just a simple accounting measure to help businesses streamline processes and make efficiencies happen.
Except that the new additional 7% tax was levied on hundreds of things that the province didn’t tax before: Haircuts, funerals, wedding planners, appliance repairs, dancing lessons, tailoring, eating out … it is a long list. The B.C. HST has ended up costing B.C. families hundreds, maybe even thousands, more per year.
And it wasn’t revenue neutral for government coffers either. During the referendum in which B.C. voters voted down the HST, Premier Christy Clarke warned that if we, the stupid unwashed taxpayers, voted the tax down, she would have to find an extra $3-billion somewhere else to keep hospitals and schools operating. How did we go from revenue neutral to life-altering revenue shortfalls?
Albertans should be very wary of any promises, vague or explicit, about new taxes. Marilyn Baker, Richmond, B.C.

Re: Paying More Is The Canadian Way, letter to the editor, Feb. 13.
While not absolving big business of all the blame for the differences in car prices in Canada vs. the United States (after all we can all enjoy the good times if we want by owning a part of the company), letter-writer Stephen Cohen should have taken his math just a bit further.
The difference in net taxes to the provincial and federal government between Canadian prices vs. U.S. prices for the Toyota RAV4 & Honda CRV is approximately $1,300 (rounded up for the penny). With nearly 1.7 million passenger cars and light trucks sold in Canada in 2012, the tax differential would have been north of $105-million.
So who exactly is going to fight for Canadian Joe Consumer to narrow this price gap? No government. So move over, big business, you have a silent partner in this who speaks from both sides of its mouth. Conny DiFruscia, Guelph, Ont.

Re: A Sales Tax To End All Taxes, Andrew Coyne, Feb. 12.
Please stop Andrew Coyne and his verbiage about sales taxes and consumption taxes. We have income taxes and we have outgo taxes. That’s it. The government has designed a system to take from you both coming and going. We shall die and no one in government will be incarcerated for simply taking from us all. Shameful. David Burn, Toronto.

A challenge to all ‘whippersnappers’

Re: Headline Wording, letter to the editor, Feb. 12; Elderly Couple Wins $30M Lottery in Nfld., Feb. 8.
Kudos to letter-writer Doreen Cowan. My thoughts, voiced to my husband on reading the earlier article, were: “The nerve of the National Post to call us elderly.” Glad to see I was not the only one. I’ll be 67 next May and I challenge anyone of you young whippersnappers to keep up with me on my two- to three- mile daily walks no matter the weather. Elderly not! Hazel Oliver, Ancaster, Ont.